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 Post subject: Re: Gem-A Syllabus: How much mineralogy is taught?
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:30 pm 
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Thanks for the advice, and while I've already got a few in-depth academic textbooks on gemology I've never found myself with too many books, so I'll look into them. I'll still probably keep going through some of the GIA stuff if not just for identification. Thanks!


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 Post subject: Re: Gem-A Syllabus: How much mineralogy is taught?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:07 pm 
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Having just finished the FGA Diploma (I hope [-o< ), which isn't retail oriented in the slightest, my feeling is that there probably isn't a gemmological qualification out there (yet) that really goes in depth into mineralogy.

I know when I started the FGA I thought wow, when I finish this I will really know a lot about gemmology and yee ha, I will be a gemmologist - and now I feel like I actually know little more than the Ladybird Book of Gemmology and I'd feel like a complete fraud to describe myself as a gemmologist! Not because the course isn't really good or that you don't learn a heck of a lot but because the more you learn the more you realise that any wide-ranging course such as the GG or FGA is only going to scratch the surface of most areas.

Tim, I don't think you would find much difference between the old and new - the old notes appeared more academic: not many pretty pictures and things were more linear - the new ones are a bit more jumpy around for the information and some foundation stuff has moved to the diploma and vice versa so they look more approachable. (I have the old and new Foundation notes so I was able to compare).

I don't know whether the extra year at Kingston that you can do after the FGA to get a BSc in Gemmology & Applied Mineralogy gives more what you would be looking for Igneous. It's an on-campus course though whereas you can do the FGA via distance learning.

I imagine with your background that reading books and possibly finding like-minded people to talk in real life and on this and other more geological forae is going to be your best bet.


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 Post subject: Re: Gem-A Syllabus: How much mineralogy is taught?
PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:05 am 
pandora wrote:
....I know when I started the FGA I thought wow, when I finish this I will really know a lot about gemmology and yee ha, I will be a gemmologist - and now I feel like I actually know little more than the Ladybird Book of Gemmology and I'd feel like a complete fraud to describe myself as a gemmologist! Not because the course isn't really good or that you don't learn a heck of a lot but because the more you learn the more you realise that any wide-ranging course such as the GG or FGA is only going to scratch the surface of most areas.


This is an essential truth in all fields, I think. Only after one acquires a good core knowledge in one's field of study does the true awesomeness of ones remaining ignorance fully strike home :shock:

Another view of this is the old definition of an expert as someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing at all. :)


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 Post subject: Re: Gem-A Syllabus: How much mineralogy is taught?
PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:03 am 
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Pandora, after reading your posts I KNOW you are an excellent and qualified gemologist. There is not a question in my mind.

A gemologist is not a mineralogist, chemist, jewelry/art historian, physicist, goldsmith, sales manager, designer or appraiser.

But they certainly can be any of the above if they chose to pursue it. Depends what you want to contribute to our industry and where you think your best "fit" would be.

As with any profession, it is all up to you what you will become.


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